


Aftermath

by Max_mcklain777



Series: Aftermath [1]
Category: The Last of Us (Video Games)
Genre: Action/Adventure, F/F, F/M, Fluff, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I will add more as I go, Smut, Violence, inappropriate language, look for the light, mature themes, not great with tags
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-16
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:47:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28104957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Max_mcklain777/pseuds/Max_mcklain777
Summary: What happens next ? Read to find out. (Yeah, yeah I know... crap summary, but there is no good way to summarise this work.)
Relationships: Abby/New character, Dina/Ellie (The Last of Us), Ellie/New character
Series: Aftermath [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2058993
Kudos: 4





	1. Abby

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, so I randomly decided that I wanted to write a Last of Us fan-fiction with multiple chapters. 
> 
> The story will follow both Ellie and Abby’s journey and it is set right after the events of the second game so continue at your own expense if you haven’t got around to play or finish the second game. 
> 
> I will try to be as accurate as possible with the details that I include, but keep in mind that I do not live in the States so there is a possibility that some of the information I add might be wrong. 
> 
> I should also mention that in addition to our original characters, I’ve took the liberty of adding a few new side-characters 
> 
> I thought we would start off our journey with Abby and Lev since the second game ended with Ellie.

**Ventura**

It's not easy. Taking care of someone, while trying to put as much distance as possible between you and someone else. I drove until I reached what looked like a small beach town. I had to leave Lev on the motor boat to go look for supplies, I made sure to anchor the boat a bit farther away from the shore so that he would be safe, whatever that means… I told Lev that we are okay and that I was going to go look for supplies, I told him to stay on the boat and wait for me. Im not sure if he registered anything I’ve said, he seemed unconscious. I did not want to leave him all alone, but if I didn’t go look for supplies, I knew we wouldn’t make it out alive.

I swam the rest of the way to the shore, it took longer than I expected. I was tired, I couldn’t even remember the last time I’ve eaten something. The sea water glazing over my sun burns and open wounds made my eyes water. When I finally reached the hot dry sand I had to lay down for several minutes, once I finally caught my breath I tried to stand up but I all managed to do wast to crawl. I looked back at the boat, it was till there, swinging on the sea. I managed to stand up and started walking slowly, but Im sure I was lurching if anything. When I reached the main road, I came back to my senses with the sight of two infected. Runners. I hid in a nearby bush waited until they passed me by and continued walking. Finally I saw a grocery store. Nothing, everything was swooped out. So I carried on.

I didn’t know how long I walked for, my mind was numbed by the pain that arose from my bare feet touching the hot concrete, I could feel my skin tearing away. Soon I realised I was not in the outskirts of the town anymore, I was close to the centre but so far I had no luck with any of the grocery stores I ran into and I wasn’t going to take my chances with any of the houses, since I could barely walk. I decided to go back to the boat when I saw another infected pass by a gas station around the corner. Once again I waited until it was far away from the area. I gently opened the door when a small bell rang. I froze and looked around me frantically. I did not see any infected and all I could hear was the loud beats of my own heart. I entered the station found a pamphlet holder with a few maps on it. I picked one up and viewed it. Ventura. We were in Ventura. I placed the map in my back pocket and checked all the selfs. Nada. I made my way towards the drawers behind the counter, where the cash-register was. The big drawer was locked and the rest of them were mostly empty except for the one that had an empty clipboard in it. It seemed like the only thing left in the store other than magazines and postal cards were beach equipments like giant umbrellas and kid armbands.

I remembered how my dad insisted that I would wear the armbands he got me, when I was little when he was trying to teaching me how to swim. He told me that they were a pain in the ass to find but I was impatient and really hated the way the armbands wrapped my arms, so I took them out and dived right in. Of course I couldn’t make my way to the top and he had to rescue me from drowning. He was really sacred. I remember him lecturing me for what felt like forever before trying to teach me how to swim again, this time without the armbands. He was so proud when I finally managed to float. I sighed, it feels like a lifetime ago.

I grabbed one of the beach towels so that I can shelter Lev from the sun. I also picked up one of the of the canvas tote bags. It was blue and had a label on it which said “Eat, Beach, Sleep, Repeat !”. If Owen was here he would try to put one of the big straw hats and the flamingo sunglasses on me to “complete my look”. That gave me a small smile. I missed Owen, I missed them both. I placed the towel into the bag and continued looking around. I found a suncream bottle under the shelfs and added it to the tote bag without hesitation once the memories of salty water on my burned skin from earlier today came back to me.

There were 3 doors in the store. Two of them had the toilet signs and I had no idea what the other one was for. I made my way to the ladies room, the stalls were empty, I check all the sinks and finally a thin line of water ran from one of the taps, I immediately drank it and washed my face but before I could find anything to collect the rest, the water ran out. Accepting my faith, I went back to check the mens room, the door was blocked. I pushed the door with all of my strength and it swung open and the cargo cart blocking the door loudly cashed into one of the stalls. A figure broke loose from the wall and lunged at me. I collided on my back with the infected on top of me. I tried to push it away but failed, I looked around me and spotted a palm tree statue on the bottom self just out of each. I gabbed it and crashed it hard into the infected’s head, it startled him which gave me enough time to climb on top of him and crush it into its skull again, and again and again. Until there was no sound, until there was no head, until the statue hit the ground and broke apart. I fell next to it breathing heavily. When I finally collected myself I saw the keychain clinging to what looked like its jeans. I grabbed it and made my way back to the counter and tried all of them until I found the one and unlocked the drawer, I found a revolver and a pack of bullets, and added them to the bag. I hurried over to the other door and quickly found the key and unlocked it, it was a basement.

Dim yellow afternoon lights were entering in from the small windows on the basement wall, this must have been the storage room. There were canned food, toilet papers, water bottles, soda cans, a few bottles of gin, bandages, fuel containers, a torch and even comics. Everything you need to get by. Everything I need. I wasted no time and grabbed whatever I can from the selfs, I even went back upstairs to grab another one of those tacky bags, this one was yellow and the white label said “Beach Please”. Before I left the room I decided to pick up one of the comics for Lev and that’s when I saw the two bodies lying on the mattress, one of them was a child and both had a bullet scar on their head. It was clear that they’ve been here for sometime. Guess they thought this place wold make a good shelter, and by the looks of it, they were wrong. I placed the comic into the yellow tote bag and left the store.

When I finally made it to the beach, I put the bags down and swam towards the boat, ignoring all the pain that I felt all over my body. I got on and checked on Lev, he was still unconscious but alive. I drove towards the shore and placed the bags in the boat, I was about to climb back into the boat when I heard gun shots. They were distant but loud all the same. I looked around me and spotted a few infected emerging from the distant houses. I needed to get the hell out of here, I quickly climbed back into the boat and droveaway.

**Santa Monica**

It took us 3 days to arrive to Santa Monica. After safely departing from Ventura, I didn’t continue driving for a day to take care of Lev. He couldn’t keep anything down the first day, and only managed to eat a few bites of canned peach the other. I tried to keep him under the shade as much as I can and wrapped his open wounds, he winched every now and then when the alcohol made contact with his skin. I applied sunscreen to both of our sunburns, not sure if it would do us any good and I waited…

I couldn’t sleep despite being tired, I was too on edge. We were out in the open, weak. Vulnerable to any possible attacks. I only had a revolver with 5 bullets, which wouldn’t be enough.

I found myself thinking of Yara. She loved her brother so much and Lev’s safety was her biggest priority. Thats what it means to be a sibling I thought, but I wouldn’t know, I didn’t have any. She sacrificed everything for him, including her life. I couldn’t help but to fell like I was letting her down every second Lev remained unconscious. I thought about drinking some of the gin, to take some of the edge off, but decided against it. How did I end up here ? I continued driving till the morning. 

On the third day, I saw Lev glancing around, his eyelids half closed

“ _Water._ ” He mumbled.

I quickly went trough the bags and grabbed one of the bottles. I helped him drink it. He looked better compared to the previous days. After a few minutes he slowly tried to get up as I supported his back.

“ _Hey, are you okay ?_ ” I said looking at him with worried eyes.

“ _I think so, where are-_ ”

Before he can finish his sentence I pulled him in for a hug, only then realising how much of a weight lifted from my shoulders.

I told him that we were in Sanat Monica, pointing at the location on the map, as we ate our food. 

“ _How did we get out of Santa Barbara ?_ ” Lev asked.

I should have told him the truth, but he had been trough enough and I didn’t want to worry him. So I lied.

“ _The cellmates, Sio and the others… they uh, managed to score the keys from that guard with the sun glasses.”_ I gestured towards my face and added _“They cut us down and we ran for the boats._ ”

“ _But how did all of them manage to get on the other boat ? There were too many of us._ ” he said.

“ _Some of them didn’t make it._ ” I could have freed our cellmates. I felt guilty. But I heard sounds of explosion and gun shots. There is no way in hell I would risk Lev’s life over stagers. Not to mention the rough shape I was and still am in after that fight. “ _We decided that we would have a better chance of getting away if the rest of us split up._ ” I said.

He nodded.

“ _Oh I almost forgot, I have surprise for you._ ” I said as I handed him the comic.

“ _Savage Starlight…_ ” he said as he skimmed through the pages curiously.

Once Lev started reading, I took out the map and started planning. It would take us roughly a day to get to the Starlight Beach of the Catalina Island and another to arrive to Avalon. I’ve once read that the boat engines can last 1,500 hours, I didn’t know if this boat would hold up to that knowledge, yet somehow I was sure it would last unit we reached Starlight Beach.

It was noon when Lev and I made our way into the city. I emptied the yellow bag so that we can bring it with us for the supplies, Lev chuckled when he read the label, I joined him.

We were luck enough to find one of those big super markets but the doors were heavily guarded, so we walked around and Lew saw the small pieces of broken glass under a tree.As we approached the tree, I saw that its branches hid a small window. We climbed inside and soon as we did I realized the mistake that we made. There were 5 infected roaming around and I saw a corpse in the middle of the room. It was recently killed by the looks of it. I had my gun with me but I didn’t want the sound to attract more infected. I looked around me and found a sharp piece of glass. I told Lev to stay put, he said he cold help but I already left our spot and took down one of the runners and the next one. I quietly approached one of the clickers and used the glass to silently strike, I cut my hand in the process but ignored the ache. It was when I killed the other clicker that the last one noticed me and run towards me, to my surprise Lev hit the infected with a baseball bat and I quickly grabbed it and killed it with the sharp glass.

“ _I told you to stay put._ ” I said, out of breath.

“ _You needed help. You are bleeding !_ ” Lew said in a worried manner.

“ _I’m okay_.” I said firmly.

We ran around, as carefully as we could to garb the supplies. Just then we came across an aisle dedicated to outdoors.

“ _Jackpot !_ ” I said enthusiastically.

“ _Jack- what ?_ ” Lev asked confused.

“ _Jackpot,_ ” I repeated as I took out the supplies in the yellow tote bag and placed them into the big backpack I found. “it means winning a prize, like in a lottery.”

“ _Whats a lottery ?_ ” Lev asked, even more confused than before. 

“ _I’ll tell you all about it when we get back._ ” I replied.

I grabbed one of the tents and secured it to the bottom of the bag using the thin ropes. Lev picked a green backpack and put the rest of the supplies inside, I made sure to grab two flasks and a compass. I picked up one of the small axes and handed it to Lev so that he can have something to defend himself. We grabbed a pair of hiking boots, I couldn’t find my size so I grabbed a bigger one, after all walking bare foot was torture. Before we left we tried to enter the pharmacy section but the door was securely locked and the windows were covered with bars. I searched the infected but this time none of them had the key. Guess luck only gets you so far. We climbed out of the window and headed back to the beach. Before we got on the boat, I stopped Lev.

“ _Hey, I just want to say that… you were right. I needed help, Im sorry. Thank you for saving my ass._ ” I said and lightly punched his shoulder.

“ _Of course_.” he said with a smile.

“ _But the truth is, I should be the one looking after you._ ” I added.

“ _We look after each other_.” he said.

We spent the night eating beans as I tried to explain to Lev what a lottery was. We both fell asleep while discussing the possible prizes you could win and I vaguely remember Lev saying he would love to win a paste that would help him grow a beard which made both of us laugh.

Early in the morning I drove the boat towards the Catalina Island alternating between the map and the compass for guidance while Lev read his comic and occasionally made sounds of awe, telling me about what happened in the story. We reached Catalina Island by night fall.


	2. Ellie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter the story continues with Ellies point of view and we witness her return to Jackson.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter the story continues with Ellie's point of view and we witness her return to Jackson.
> 
> I also tried to write using a southern accent but Im not sure if I did a good job so let me know if it is too confusing and I’ll fix it.
> 
> The last thing I wanna mention is that for this chapter I got inspired by Wolf of Thorn’s “How Ellie and Abby will complete the Hero's Journey in TLOU3” video essay on YouTube. I must clarify one thing tho, this fanfiction will not follow his story line. I just got inspired by a particular scenario he described.

**Day 1**

I felt all the eyes on me as I entered through the wooden gates of Jackson. The guys on guard duty barely recognised me when I approached the gate. People slowly stopped what they were doing to take a look at me. John who worked at he stables stopped combing the horse. Lena dropped her basket full of apples. Peter who was shaping a hot piece of iron stopped hammering the material for several moments and continued with a loud thud. Adults whispered to each other. Kids hid behind their parents. When I returned the looks, their eyes shifted to the ground. The journey back was brutal, I had to outrun a herd and just when I thought I might rest for a while the rebel group came into the forest to check on their traps. I was out numbered and had to use my last molotov to escape. I was out of bullets and I only had the half broken crowbar to defend myself. Im pretty sure I was covered in blood and had several open wounds, I was barely walking. I can imagine them saying:

_‘Ellie is back._

_Who ?_

_You know the girl with the red hair, her old man got killed last year._

_Oh, that Ellie. Ah thought she was livin’ in a ranch with her friend and she’s kid._

_It was her girlfriend, Dina. She came back a few moths back though._

_Did she ?_

_Yeah, she didn’t say what happened but by the looks of it, that girl is tangled up with some nasty business, you should have seen her, all covered in blood. I couldn’t even tell if it was hers or someone else’s._

_Ah reckon that family fell apart after the death of- Joel, was it ? Ah saw Tommy the other day, movin’ stuff out of his house. He took the boxes to one of them empty houses, you know the ones that Damian and the others were fixin’._

_Really ?_

_Oh yes… ah asked Damian, pity ah couldn’t get a word out of him. Said it was none of ma business… Sure’nuff Maria realised that he’s all hat and no cattle.’_

\- o -

I headed to Tommy’s house, I was about to knock when the front door open. It was Maria, she looked like she’d seen a ghost.

“ _Ellie !_ ” She said and tried to pull me into a hug, I stopped her.

“ _I wound want to get this_ ” I gestured to my blood covered clothes “ _all over you._ ”

“ _Gosh, what happened ?! Come, let’s take you to the infirmary._ ” she said placing her hand on my shoulder, gesturing me towards the stairs. 

“ _I, rather not._ ” I replied, not wanting to answer all the questions about how I got my wounds.

She looked at me confused.

“ _Is Tommy in_?” I asked, nodding towards the back of the house.

She looked down for a moment. “ _Well uhm, he doesn’t live here anymore…he, moved… to one of those houses near the South gate._ ”

“ _Oh._ ” I said nodding, pinching my left index finger with my right hand. It was a nervous habit that I had, and just then she saw my hand.

Her eyes widened as she slowly grabbed my hand saw the two missing fingers.

“ _Ellie…_ ” she said with a soft tone full of compassion.

“ _Its nothing._ ” I said, pulling my hand away. “ _I better go see Tommy._ ” I added as I gave her a small wave and backed away.

“ _Tell me he didn’t put you up to this._ ” She said and added “ _I knew something was wrong when Dina got back but she wouldn’t say anything. I just assumed that you were taking sometime off-_ ”

“ _He didn’t._ ” I said shaking my head and added “ _I had to finish it._ ”

“ _He loved you, you know. Joel. Like you were his own daughter…. I don’t think he would want you to spend the rest of your life in remorse.” she said._

I turned towards her and said“ _And I_ ** _know_** _that if the situation was reversed, he would make them pay._ ”. She didn’t reply after that and I continued walking.

\- o -

I was just about to reach Tommy’s new place when I saw JJ on the swing. He was chuckling each time he got too high, and behind him was Dina. Swinging JJ as she talked to some people from our old friend group. A moment later, she spotted me. I thought of going there. I wanted to say something, anything, but I couldn’t. So I tuned left and kept walking.

After a few knocks Tommy said “ _Alright, alright ! Im comin’. All hell breaks loose when I sit down fo’ a minute_.”

When Tommy finally open the door, terror filled his gaze. He hugged my shoulders with one arm and walked me in. I sat on the couch as he went to the town centre to get me some fresh clothes and antiseptics. When Tommy came back, he found me at the exact same spot he left me. He placed the small basket next to me and sat across from me.

“ _You wanna tell me what happened ?_ ” he asked.

It took me a moment to find my voice. “ _I found her…_ ” I said.

“ _But…_ ” he said.

I didn’t reply. Tommy already knew what happened, he took one look at me and he knew.

He sighed and stared at me for while, the he asked “ _Did she do that to ya ?_ ” pointing towards my hand.

“Yeah…” I said, my voice blow a whisper.

Tommy nodded and stood up. “There is a bathroom and a spare bedroom upstairs, get cha’self cleaned up.” he said and then squeezed my shoulder lightly, he grabbed his coat and left the house.

I picked the small basket and went upstairs. The hot water drops trailed down on my body and for a while I did not move, just stood there listen to the sound of each drop. I only started applying the soap once the water was lukewarm. Every time I applied the soap over my skin, my wounds sting. Once I was done, I made no attempt to apply the antiseptics, I got dress and went to the spare bedroom, soon enough I was asleep.

**Week 4**

The next weeks pass by with Maria’s attempts to get me involved in social events, I refused every single time and made up an excuse. The only time I left the house was for paroles and they always gave me and whoever I teamed up with for the day the easiest routs. At first I was annoyed but later on I realised that I didn’t mind, the sooner I finished the routs, the sooner I went back home. Plus people didn’t really enjoy my companionship since I avoided eye contact and small-talk at all cost.

I only talked during patrol if I was doing the routs with Tommy. Well it wasn’t exactly talking. Tommy usually told me stories while I nodded, shook my head, and said yes or no at the right times. Occasionally tough, he would talk about Joel, share his memories of him and that would grab my undivided attention. He never talked about what happened or what didn’t for that matter, we were both aware that we had a fragile relationship and it was better to avoid some topics.

It was one of these days that I spotted a red metal roof a bit further away from our patrol route.

“ _What’s over there ?_ ” I asked.

Tommy stared at the structure. “ _Hm, it looks like the ruins of the gas station, and the Auto-shop. Ah bet those raiders from last week set up their camp there_.” he replied.

“ _Should we check it out, there might be supplies laying around_.” I asked.

“ _Eh, why not. Let’s go_.” he said.

When we reached the ruins Tommy went to check the fuel tanks.

“ _Looks like there is plenty of juice left in these thangs_.” he said.

“ _Must be hard to reach this area with all of the overgrown plants._ ” I said as I made my way to the Auto-shop. The entrance was mostly empty, there were a few rusty cars on ivy covered platforms. I searched the workbenches for possible spare parts but couldn’t find many. I eventually tried the big garage door on the left but it didnt budge.

“ _Wont open ?_ ” Tommy asked.

I looked around and saw the vent. 

“ _I might be able to get it open from the other side._ ”

“ _Be careful._ ” He said.

I climbed into the vent and crawled until I reached the other end. The space looked empty so I jumped down. Something grabbed my jacket and pulled me towards itself.

Tommy must have heard me grouting because he yelled “ _Ellie what the hell is goin’ on in there ?!!!_ ” worry filled his voice.

I kicked the figure and got away, it was a clicker and it was handcuffed to one of the pipes. I took my gun out and shot it in the head.

“ _ELLIE ?!_ ” Tommy yelled.

“ _Im okay, it was just a clicker_.”

“ _Thank god…_ ” he said, I could almost hear him sigh in relief. “ _Do you think you can get this door open ?_ ”

“ _Yeah, just a second._ ” I said. The room was empty except for the long fabric covering something. I grabbed it and pulled it down. “ _Holy shit !_ ” I said out loud.

“ _What ?_ ” said the voice from the other side of the door.

“ _You gonna have to see it for yourself._ ” I said and made my way towards the door, a crowbar was stuck in the chains, I removed it and pulled the chains downwards until the garage door was fully open.

Tommy’s eyes glistened with awe. “ _Well I’ll be damned…_ ” he said.

\- o -

It was a shock for everyone when Tommy and I returned to Jackson with two Harley Motorcycles. Tommy immediate took them to the garage to get it checked up, it has been awhile since I saw him this excited. I felt bittersweet remembering the time Joel told me how on Tommy’s birthday they rented two Harley motorcycles and went for a cross-country ride. 

\- o -

I was almost done with showering when I herd a yelling sounds from the living room. I quickly got dressed and walked to the staircase.

“ _Do ya really think that forcin’ her to attend stupid town events will change a thang_?”

“ _At least Im trying to help her, all you do is feeding each-other’s sadness._ ”

“ _Damn it Maria, I lost ma brother, how the hell am I suppose to feel huh ?!_ ”

“ _You made her go after that woman. Did you even realise the bite mark on her hand ? She could have died !_ ”

“ _She did what she did to find peace._ ”

“ _No, she wanted to do it for your sake because she felt like she was letting Joel down._ ”

“ _Ahhh…_ ” Tommy said in dismay, throwing his hand up in the air.

“ _The truth is, you are letting your brother down by making her feel like she is letting the both of you down._ ”

I reached the last step of the staircase when Maria finished her sentence.

“ _Ellie…_ ” Maria said. They were both looking at me.

“ _I’ll give you guys some space._ ” I said and left the house.

I walked to the park where I last saw Dina and JJ and sat down at one of the benches. I remembered how JJ laughed when he was swinging and how Dina was smiling at him. I couldn’t help but to think about Jessie. He got mixed up in a fight that he had nothing to do with, and he died helping us. Helping me. He didn’t even know the real reason behind all of the events. I felt guilty. I should’ve never dragged them into this mess.

When I got back home Tommy was waiting for me in the kitchen.

“ _Take a seat…” he gestured towards the chair in front of him. “Look Im sorry you had to witness that. Me and Maria, we don’t always see eye to eye on things, nowadays more than ever._ ”

“ _Don’t worry about it._ " I said, waving my hand.

“I _wanted to talk to you about somethin’… I’ve decided that there isn’t much left for me here and um, Im planning to hit the road. Tomorrow mornin’._ ”

My eyes widened. “ _You are leaving ?_ ” I said in disbelief.

“ _Yeah, and uhm I wanted to ask ya if you wanna join me._ ”

I didn’t know what to say.

“ _No need to decide now, just uh… let me know._ ” he said and grabbed his coat.

“ _Where are you going ?_ ” I asked turning from my chair.

“ _Right now ? To the pub._ ” He put on his coat. “ _Tomorrow ? Lord knows…_ ”

\- o -

When I heard the knock on the door, I expected to see Tommy but it wasn’t him. It was Dina.

“ _Hey_.” she said.

“ _Hi…_ ” I said, surprised to she her here.

“ _May I come in ?_ ” she asked.

“ _Uh yeah, yeah, of course._ ” I closed the door behind her and guided her towards the kitchen. “Can I get you anything ? Tea ? Coffee ?” I asked as she sat down.

“ _Coffee would be great._ ” she replied.

I poured the hot coffee into two mugs and gave one of them to Dina and sat down across from her.

We sat in since for a while, neither of us knowing how to start. I took a sip from my coffee and saw Dina staring at my hand which was resting on the table. I placed my hand over my lap.

“ _So I guess you found her._ ” she said.

“ _I did._ ” I confirmed.

“ _Did you…_ ” Dina didn’t finish her sentence, she didn’t have to, I knew what she meant.

“ _No._ ” I said.

“ _No ?_ ” she replied in disbelief.

“ _I let her go._ ” Those words felt like a dagger in my heart.

“ _I see._ ” Dina said.

“ _Where is JJ ?_ ” I managed to ask.

“ _He is sleeping, Jessie’s mom is looking after him._ ” she said.

“ _Im surprised he fell asleep this early, he used to stay awake until midnight. We would have to take turns rocking him._ ” I said with a small laughter.

“ _Yeah, he was a big ball of energy.”_ she said, also laughing. _“I still can’t keep up with him somedays, but Sam helps out._ ” she added. 

“ _Sam ?_ ” I asked, slowly losing my previous laughter.

“ _Yeah uhm, he has been really sportive after I got back. Moving was… hard, on both of us._ ” She said.

“ _Right_.” I said. I remembered that I did saw him with Diana at the park a few weeks ago. “ _And do you… uh like, him ?_ ” I asked.

“ _Ellie, I-_ ”

“ _Do you ?_ ” I asked again.

“ _He is a really nice person._ ” she said.

When I didn’t reply she finally said “ _Yes._ ” dropping her gaze to her empty cup.

“ _I am happy for you_.” I said as I stroked the back her hand with my thumb, I was holding back tears.

I couldn’t read her reaction and she just said “ _Thank you._ ”.

After a few more uncomfortable moment she excused herself and I walked her out of the door, she gave me a small hug and I watched her walk away.

When Tommy got back I said “ _I’ll go with you. I think there isn’t much left for me here either._ ”.

**The next day**

I told Tommy that I would meet him at the gate and headed towards a place I thought I would never visit again. Joel’s house was unoccupied but he’s stuff was still in there. I walked through the hallways I knew so well and climbed the staircase, when I reached the top I removed the photo of me and Joel petting one of horses from its frame and put it in my bag. Another empty frame indicated that Tommy was recently here, I guess he also wanted a token. Finally I removed the photo of Sarah and Joel from its frame and headed towards the graveyard. I sat next to his grave for a long time, the complementary flowers were long gone. Finally I buried the photo of Sarah and Joel as deeps as I can and left for the gate.

Tommy was talking to Maria, but when he see me approach, he told her goodbye and sat on one of the Harley motorcycles.

“ _The motorcycles ?_ ” I asked.

“ _They are a parting gift from Maria._ ” Tommy confirmed.

“ _Thank you._ ” I said.

“ _Its the least I could do._ ” she said and added “ _No matter what, don’t forget that you are always welcome here._ ”

I nodded and hopped on the motorcycle, just then Dina, JJ and Sam approached the gate. Maria must have told Dina. She looked as if she wanted to say something but nothing came out of her mouth. I smiled and waved at them, knowing that I would always miss them, no matter where I went and started the engine.

Tommy and I speeded through the gates and rode until the sun started to set. Trough the ride I made an effort to ignore the ache in my heart and imagined how it would be like if Joel was here with us. When we stopped for a small break Tommy asked me where I wanted to go, to which I replied “ _Somewhere far away. Maybe Virginia ?_ ”. He laughed and said “ _Virginia it is._ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, constructive feedback is appreciated, so let me know what you think of it in the comment section below.

**Author's Note:**

> As always, constructive feedback is appreciated, so let me know what you think of it in the comment section below.


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